This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Good thing for Real Salt Lake that it already secured an important victory in the CONCACAF Champions League because it's going to be pretty shorthanded for the next couple of weeks.
Defender Jamison Olave could miss the first two games of the Major League Soccer season with a hamstring injury he suffered in RSL's 2-0 victory against Saprissa of Costa Rica in the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday night, a team official said, and fellow defender Chris Wingert's availability remains in question due to a sprained ankle.
RSL opens the season at San Jose on Saturday, then meets the Los Angeles Galaxy in the home opener on March 26 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Team spokesman Trey Fitz-Gerald said Wingert could be available for the San Jose game, depending on how quickly he recovers — but three other potential starters will leave the team for international duty after the league opener.
Midfielder Will Johnson and forwards Alvaro Saborio and Arturo Alvarez will join their respective national teams through March 30, meaning they will miss the home opener against the Galaxy, who will be without star forward Landon Donovan.
Donovan has been called up to the U.S. team that will play Argentina and Paraguay in friendlies on March 26 and March 29.
Johnson will play for Canada in Turkey, while Alvarez plays for El Salvador in a tournament in the United Arab Emirates and Saborio joins Costa Rica — and several of the former teammates on Saprissa whom he just helped defeat in Champions League — at home against Argentina and China.
All three are expected back in plenty of time to prepare with RSL for the second leg of its Champions League semifinal series in Costa Rica on April 5.
The big worry is Olave.
RSL coach Jason Kreis said he feared the hulking defender's injury was serious "because he's a not a guy that comes out of games, and he told us he needed to come out. So I have a feeling it's a lot worse than we'd like it to be."
And as if that wasn't bad enough for Olave, the reigning MLS Defender of the Year was fined $250 by the league on Wednesday for tweeting that the referee in a preseason game against Sporting KC was "terrible." That game was abandoned early due to a bench-clearing brawl that followed a hard foul on RSL's Javier Morales. Olave wasn't entirely deterred from the tweeting, however.
After coming off at halftime of the Saprissa game with his injury, he posted a new message. "Thanks for all," he said. "I will be fine."